Gameplay Overview

The King of Dinosaurs is a slow, "power"-style grappler like Daimon or Maxima. Since he lacks the mobility to be highly aggressive like Clark or Ramon, the King must rely on slow, careful movements to provoke his opponents into making big, punishable mistakes. In exchange for his low mobility, he has several armored normal and special attacks with which to deflect projectiles, jump-ins, and pokes and attempt a free punish. He also has a fast command grab to punish otherwise minor mistakes, and a long-ranged jump D with which to poke or lock off air space. He gains even more and better armored and punishment tools in MAX mode via his EX Assault Raptor and EX Zetsumetsu Hurricane. With that said, the King's low mobility is his biggest problem by far -- he has some good offensive and defensive moves, but can seriously struggle against many opponents to gain or keep the ranges where they work best. His combos are simple enough for beginners to perform, but the difficulty of his neutral game makes him better suited for experienced players who can work better around his limitations. But if you want to learn how to play a strong defensive style, the King of Dinosaurs is an excellent platform to teach you the fundamentals of smart defensive grappling.

Normals

Standing

st. A:

5F / -2

Good anti-air/hop check due to its range and height.

Whiffs on crouching opponents.

Against an opponent who will stay grounded, use cr.A instead.

This normal is not spammable, so mis-timing this can result in a running opponent catching KoD with a cr.B st.B max mode confirm

st. B:

6F / -2

Dino’s best poke for 1-bar quick max confirming (st.B BC cl.C).

Cancellable

Does not hit low.

Will combo to A Zetsumetsu Hurricane except at nearly max range

Effective whiff punish, though not confirmable

If st.B xx hcb+A is blocked, opponents may need to move forward first to punish

At the correct ranges, this can be cancelled to Assault Raptor (qcf+B/D) as a mixup

If an opponent backdashes the st.B that is cancelled to Assault Raptor, the opponent will be airborne and Assault Raptor will whiff. Moreover, the opponent will recover fast enough to punish with a full combo.

st. C:

16F / -2

Has upper-body autoguard a few frames after startup.

Super cancellable.

Will whiff on shorter crouching opponents (think Iori or smaller).

The armor on this move makes it useful both for plowing through slow C/D pokes, as well as slapping away high fireballs (King, Andy, Mai, etc.).

Its major vulnerability is crouching moves, so it should be used against opponents conditioned to stand block or poke standing.

st. D:

15F / -8

Hits high, but starts up slowly.

The hitbox reaches surprisingly far under this move, allowing it to whiff punish some crouching normals with good spacing. However, st.B and cr.D are usually easier whiff punish tools, and cr.C is usually a better anti-air.

Close

cl. A

Minus on block, but special/super-cancellable and chains to command normals, as well as to cr.A.

cl. B:

Minus on block, but special-cancellable. Comparable activation range to cl.A.

cl. C:

Slow

Cancellable. Primarily combo filler, but chokes off a decent amount of space right in front of KoD to stuff the startup of jumps.

cl. D:

Forces stand on hit.

Cancellable

Does 80 damage.

After jump-ins, use cl.C instead to continue confirm, since cl.D is usually too slow to combo.

Unsafe on block, so should be cancelled to Rex Head (safer on block) unless the opponent is airborne and close to the ground.

Cancellable

Can hit behind KoD sometimes, but usually has tendency to whiff against crossover jumps.

If this resets an opponent at close range, KoD will switch sides with the opponent.

Very slow recovery on whiff.

cr. D:

Double sweep (hits low, either hit can knock down)

1st hit cancellable

2nd hit minus on block.

True blockstring.

Safe pushback on block

Vulnerable to whiff punishes and guard cancel roll punishes.

Jumping

j. A: Fast, long-ranged, and decently active, but its hitbox is so high in the air that it's very difficult to air-to-air many hop attacks with this move. Best reserved for very high air-to-air defense; otherwise, stay on the ground and anti-air with b+A, cr.C, or st.A.

j. B: A nice deep jump-in, and despite how it looks, actually a better low jump air-to-air than j.A. It has a similar active window and enough speed and a protected-enough hurtbox to reliably stop many air-to-air attacks that lack the extreme range of a j.D (in which case the King can frequently win from a vertical jump if he jumped higher than Iori).

j. C: The King's deepest jump-in. Mostly a combo starter and frontal jump-in, but can be a decent air-to-air from a high vertical jump as well. Can cross up if you aim to hit the opponent with Dino's ass.

j. D: The King's most reliable jump zoning move, with huge horizontal range to protect his hurtbox. Its only drawback is that it doesn't reach very deep, so it's prone to whiffing on crouching opponents if done too early from a jump. Mix this move in with empty vertical and backward hops and you may see some opponents land on it.

Blowback

st. CD: Not a whole lot of range by Dino's standards, but it's decently fast and positive on block, which is rare for Dino. Midscreen, you can run up and get a qcb+D bite for an OTG combo.

j. CD: Not a good crossup move despite how it looks (sorry Zangief fans), but is quite fast for a Dino normal, making it a decent air-to-air and good, safe hop pressure tool. Hop after your opponent does a big hop attack and let it rip for best whiff-punishment results.

Throws

Dyna Bomb - (b/f+C) close

KoD grabs the opponent and throws them into the wall

Can be broken

Soft knockdown. Can OTG with Giga Compy, but only if the opponent fails to tech roll. Will un-corner the opponent if they are deep in the corner when thrown with Dyna Bomb.

Dyna Buster - (b/f+D) close

Mesozoic German suplex.

Can be broken

Hard knockdown. Switches sides with the opponent.

Command Moves

Rex Head - f + A

Overhead when performed standalone. Blockable high/low when chained into. Combos from C/D normals.

Has upper-body autoguard shortly before the active frames (compare to st.C)

Not special-cancellable, but is super-cancellable and MAX-cancellable for a combo

Minus but safe on block. Soft knockdown on air hit

Yucatan Punch - b + A

Can only hit aerial opponents, but is special/super-cancellable

Too slow to use on reaction in most cases, must read jumps and use in advance.

Inflicts float state on air hit, can juggle with anything afterwards

Has upper-body autoguard a few frames after startup, but can be safe jumped by hop attacks if activated too late. Nevertheless, one of the King's best anti-air attacks

Special Moves

Zetsumetsu Hurricane - hcb + A/C

A version starts up fastest, can combo from A/B normals

C version starts up slower but has full-body autoguard shortly after startup throughout active frames

Hard knockdown, but leaves KoD a fair distance away from his opponent. Still, his most damaging 0-bar combo ender

EX: Starts up fast like A version, moves forward about 1/4 screen, full-body autoguard. Great for plowing through pokes for a knockdown.

Ankylo Hammer - qcf + A/C

A version starts up faster, does 2 hits, recovers faster. Combos from A/B normals. Soft knockdown on 2nd hit. Can cancel with Break on 1st hit.

C version starts up slower, does 3 hits, recovers slower. Hard knockdown on 3rd hit. Can cancel with Break on 2nd hit.

2nd hit of C version will hit opponents OTG for a re-float. 1st and 2nd hits super-cancellable, but non-MAX Dinner of Dinosaur will not juggle fully.